As the demand for integrated circuits having ever-smaller device features continues to increase, the need for improved substrate inspection systems continues to grow. One aspect of inspection tool operation includes monitoring wafers before and after they enter a fabrication process device in order to determine whether the given device is adding particles, or ‘adders,’ to the wafers. A fundamental limit on sensitivity of wafer surface scanning techniques is the signal associated with wafer surface roughness. The presence of wafer surface roughness limits the level of sensitivity achievable by a given wafer surface inspection system. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method for curing defects such as those of the identified above.